Pitcher Scott Blewett of Baldwinsville High School was selected in the second round of the Major League Baseball Draft by the Kansas City Royals Thursday night. Blewett was the 56th player taken overall and the 15th player taken in the second round.

Blewett is a two-time Gatorade Player of the Year in New York who led Baldwinsville to the Class AA state championship in 2013. He has previously signed a national letter-of-intent to play baseball for St. John's University.

Kansas City Royals great Willie Wilson announced the selection of Blewett during the telecast of the draft on the MLB Network.

"It was definitely the best experience of my life," Blewett said Thursday night. "The anticipation and everything leading up to that moment, it was amazing. I had a few friends over. The night was pretty cool, having my (baseball) banquet, ending my senior season for the baseball team at Baldwinsville and watching the draft and seeing my name called is a pretty unique feeling. It's definitely one of the best highlights of my life so far."

The Royals decision to draft Blewett in the second round is a strong indication they intend to sign the 18-year-old pitcher.

Scott Blewett told the Royals his financial terms including a signing bonus prior to his selection. He said he told them he is prepared to attend St. John's and be available for the draft again in three years if they could not meet his terms. The Royals went ahead and drafted Blewett.

His father, Kevin, believes the value they were seeking dropped Scott out of the first round, though there were some discussions with the Cincinnati Reds and Kansas City Royals during thier late first-round choices. Scott said there's no question that his three-week absence during his senior season with arm issues also hurt his value.

"Yeah, I think signability was definitely an issue for a lot of teams," Blewett said. "I'm not sure where Kansas City stands. We'll figure that out in the next few weeks whether I'm going to sign the contract or whether or not I'm going to St. John's."

It's likely the Royals did meet the Blewett's demands or would nor have risked the second-round choice. If terms are agreed upon, Blewett will likely sign a seven-year contract and be assigned to one of the team's Class A farm teams in Arizona.

The Royals had four picks over the first two rounds and used three of them on pitchers including two in the first round - TCU left-hander Brandon Finnegan with the 17th overall pick and left-hander Foster Griffin with the No. 28 overall pick out of The First Academy in Orlando.

"It's not over," Blewett said of negotiations with the Royals, though he seems ready to take his step into professional baseball. "The journey is just beginning. This is when the work really begins. I'm excited to get started. Whether or not I do go to St. John's or go play for Kansas City, I know whichever one I choose, it'll be the right one."

So blessed to be picked by the @Royals and to be a part of there organization. Thank you to all my friends and family for believing in me!

Blewett was 4-0 this season with a 0.23 ERA. He managed only 30 innings, but struck out 54 and gave up just one earned run. In his Bees career, Blewett was 16-0 with a 1.01 ERA. He had 195 career strikeouts in 124 and one-third innings.

Blewett is 11th highest drafted player to ever come out of a Section III high school and just the fourth to be drafted in the second round. The others were Port Byron's Mel Hall Jr. in 1978, Cicero-North Syracuse pitcher Lenny Brutcher in 1988 and Northstars pitcher Pat Corbin in 2009. Corbin is currently pitching for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The first-round of the draft featured the selection of 20 pitchers; 16 players drafted in the first round were taken directly out of high school.

Blewett was the second high school player taken from a Northeast school. Pitcher Joe Gatto of St. Augustine Prep in New Jersey was taken in the second round with the 53rd pick by the Los Angeles Angels. Blewett was taken three picks later.

"I wasn’t stressed at all," Blewett said of the night. "Whatever happens, happens. I kind of had a feeling a team wouldn’t take me in the first due to what happened this last month. Before the draft, I expected the worst and hoped for the best. I'm very happy for what happened. That's what it was meant to be."